1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an array substrate, and more particularly to an active device array substrate.
2. Description of Related Art
Along with increasing demands of displays, manufacturers in this industry have endeavored to improve the quality of the displays. A cathode ray tube (CRT) display, in particular, has played a dominant role in the display market for years as a result of its extraordinary displaying quality and technical maturity. Compared with other displays, the CRT display not only has the disadvantages of high power consumption and high radiation adverse to environmental protection, but also has larger product volume, which cannot meet the trend of lightness, thinness, shortness, smallness, compactness, and low power consumption in the display market. Hence, a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) that features high resolution, efficient space utilization, low power consumption, and no radiation has become the mainstream in the display marketplace.
A TFT-LCD module is mainly composed of a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel and a backlight module. The LCD panel usually includes a thin film transistor array substrate (TFT array substrate), a color filter substrate (CF substrate) and a liquid crystal layer disposed therebetween. On the other hand, the backlight module provides a planar light source for the LCD panel, such that an LCD module is able to perform a display function.
The TFT array substrate may be divided into a display region and a peripheral circuit region. A plurality of pixel units are disposed in array on the display region, and each of the pixel units includes a TFT and a pixel electrode connected to the TFT. Moreover, a plurality of scan lines and a plurality of data lines are disposed on the peripheral circuit region and the display region. The TFT of each of the pixel units is controlled by the corresponding scan line and data line.
To prevent electrostatic discharge (ESD), an ESD protection circuit is often disposed on the peripheral circuit region of the TFT array substrate. The ESD protection circuit includes an outer short ring (OSR) and an inner short ring (ISR). After the entire TFT array substrate is completely fabricated, a cutting process is usually performed to remove the OSR. However, the removal of the OSR leads to a decrease in ESD protection of the TFT array substrate.